Correspondence - West Shore Parks and Recreation (RE: Centennial Centre Lease)

Correspondence - West Shore Parks and Recreation (RE: Centennial Centre Lease)

Date

July 5, 2019

To

Darren Kiedyk
CAO - City of Langford

From

Geoff Welham
Acting Program Manager
Westshore Parks & Recreation

Body

West Shore Parks & Recreation currently holds a lease from Langford for the lands upon which Centennial Centre (CC) is located on Carlow Road. The original lease was for 20 years with prepaid rent for the term of $10.00. This lease will come up for renewal on December 31, 2022 and WSPR would like to request a 10 year extension of this lease be considered.

Centennial Centre has played an important role in the delivery of community programs through WSPR. Many young families have enjoyed preschool programs, dance, art and day camps, to name a few. In 2017 the Centre was rebranded as "Centennial Centre for Arts, Culture and Community". The exterior signage was updated to align with other WSPR facility signage and to increase the arts profile within Langford and the Westshore community. The program offerings also changed to focus on the arts including dance classes, yoga for kids, music classes, and the "Aspiring Artist" program series. To expand upon these programs there is a strong desire to move the pottery studio currently located in the Q Centre Arena to Centennial Centre. The popularity of the pottery studio continues to grow each year, and a recent survey reflected a strong need for studio improvements including expanded drop in hours and a larger space. If the pottery studio was located in Centennial Centre drop in program hours, drop-in users and class sizes could be expanded considerably increasing revenues. In addition, staff support for the drop in program would be improved due to the proximity of full time program staff working at Centennial Centre. Other benefits to this move would include:

• Revitalization and substantially increased usage of currently underutilized spaces at CC in the Youth and Arbutus rooms
• Growth and enhancement of pottery programming and other arts programming at CC
• Creation of a true arts hub with breakout rooms for dialogues, workshops, and community gathering space
• Strengthened partnerships with the Westshore Arts Council who currently have office space at CC

The pottery studio's current location in the base of the Q Centre Arena beside the dressing rooms is isolated, and limits staff support of the program, leading to a heavy reliance on volunteer support. The sharing of this unique arts space with traditional arena usage has also created challenges for all groups. The move of the pottery studio to Centennial Centre would not only enhance the pottery program, it would also free up valuable space in the Q Centre.

This space could be used in a variety of ways including office space for major user tenants, group fitness program/weight training space or for rental of physio or other health related services. These would all provide new revenue opportunities for the Q Centre Arena.

In closing, the extension of the agreement for the Centennial Centre is critical to planning for program growth and facility enhancements in the future. Centennial Centre for Arts, Culture and Community requires upgrades, and knowing we have a future in the building is critical in our planning for these investments. The pottery studio has always been a hidden gem for delivery of arts programming. Making the move to CC would be a great step not only in increasing the exposure, capacity and revenues from the space, but also opening up the Q Centre Arena for new revenue-generating opportunities.

If you would like more information or an opportunity to meet to discuss more detail please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Sincerely,

Geoff Welham
Acting Program Manager
Westshore Parks & Recreation

1767 Island Highway, Victoria BC V9B IJI phone 250-478-8384
www.westshorerecreation.ca